Feb 4, 2018 2 min read

I just shake my head at the hypocrisy when I read some of the things said about President Trump on the opinion pages of the Observer-Reporter, some contributed by readers, along with the outlandish cartoons. Trump did, after all, win the presidential election in Washington County, Pennsylvania and across the United States.

In 2014, a developer purchased a rundown, abandoned convent in downtown Washington, with plans to invest $300,000 for renovations. There was talk of converting it into housing for Marcellus Shale workers.

The priest at nearby Immaculate Conception Church was against it. So too was Washington City Council and many others. Their fear? Transient workers would bring down the neighborhood. It wouldn’t be safe to walk around at night. We would have to save the children from the transient workers.

Where were the people now criticizing Trump then? I publicly spoke out, along with a few others, but it fell on deaf ears. That entire ordeal put a permanent stain on Washington County, and it screamed of bigotry, xenophobia and racism.

I see the dilapidated eyesore continues to exist, along with the idiom, “the pot calling the kettle black,” in Washington County.

Rebecca L. Simpson

Washington